Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-04-19

man now; and his hard fisted and sterling
SONS have been entered for course OF study
in the California university.
/ know a Frenchman not far from him
who fed from Paris after the fall Of the
commune and came and squatted down on
four acres Of steep and stony hillside. He got
water, planted blackberries and is now rich.
No. five acres is fortune IL well cultivated.
Let the big lands alone, and almost any one
can get five or ten acres In California.
The one fatal trouble with nine-tenths Of
the rowing, restless settlers is their inability
to stop rowing about. The chronic settler, in
fact, refuses to settle. l have spent the best
years Of my life rubbing up against these
nOmads, and know them and their weak
nesses well. And those who come to US from
the east become rovers also. In fact. it
seems to become q sort Of second nature after
crossing the plains / remember that nearly
forty years ago, when, after seven months, we
finally reached the end Of our journey and
sat down to rest, the poor, worn out and
weary oxen after the third day rose up,
waded into the water up to their briskets,
looked west. lowed and lowed and wanted to
go on. To be projected into California, with
all the world before you whence to choose"
it is much like letting a country boy 60 to
town for the first time. Confusion overtakes
us. We end by wanting the whole world, and
being very miserable il we do not get it.
And so I am going to venture to give two
Or three bits Of advice to those who contem-
plate coming to the Pacific coast to settle. Ir
the first place, then, keep out of all those
contemplate little towns. For plenty Of
good reasons, which / have not time to write
down and most Of which will be apparent to
you, If your inclinations, trade or profession
compel you to social center, 60 at once to
one of the two or three great cities In the
second place, be big enough to be content
with a small bit Of land. Bear IN mind you
can take in all the fine dir on one single
acre that any family can possibly use. All
heaven is yours with q single foot Of soil
But, seriously, five or ten acres, with a good
spring or well Of water is not only fortune,
but all you can possibly handle. For you
must bear in mind that you have to pull two
crops Of grapes year out here. And il you
SOW your five or ten acres to Alfalfa you
will have to NOW it from three to six times a
season. And, finally, make up your mind to
what portion of the coast whether Washing
ton territ DRY, Oregon or California, you want
to settle in, and stop there. Be prepared to
find discomfort all about you, wherever you
they still wander to and fro, sowing
discomfort wherever they 90, and doing
no good anywhere. In fact, the only
good fortune that could possibly harpen to
them would be absolute want, which would
compel them to stop and 60 to work. I have
notion that one part of the world, particu-
larly OF the Pacific coast world, is just as
good as another, and little betterl SUP
pose when the Pilgrim Fathers first set foot
in Boston they did not like the place much.
A bleaker coast Of stones and ice I reckon,
was never found by weary emigrant. But
they stuck to it. and now Boston is said
to be a very tolerable place Yes, indeed,
one part OF this world is just about as good
as another, and a little better But, as limited
before. when the emigrant arrives he is much
like the man who finds himself for the first
time in a fine store. He does not know what
he wants, and SO he wants everything; is
very miserable, begins to wander up and
down the land. and in little time becomes
a part of the great, roaming, half Gypsy fra
ternity that travels up and down the land
seeking for more dry, or a more wet, or
more wooded, or a more open country, con-
tent nowhere and of no earthly use to any
one. JOAQUIN MILLER